


the cutest cowgirl around

by embraidery



Category: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, F/F, Halloween, Meet-Cute, Pre-Relationship, background Todd Brotzman, halloween party, photo booth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:21:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27298588
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/embraidery/pseuds/embraidery
Summary: "Not today, creature of the night!" The generic superhero reaches into their pockets and brings out a handful of silver glitter, waving it threateningly in Amanda's direction. "Don't make me use my isotonic freeze crystals!""You can totally use the iso-whatever freeze crystals on me," Amanda says in an undertone. At a normal volume, she says, "Oh, no, not freeze crystals!""Get away, evil creature!" The superhero cocks one arm and throws a puff of glitter over Amanda."Ahhhhhh," Amanda wails, melting to the ground like the Witch of the West. "My only weakness..."--Amanda drags Todd to a Halloween party and meets a really cute pink-haired cowgirl.
Relationships: Amanda Brotzman/Litzibitz Trost
Comments: 8
Kudos: 5
Collections: DGHDA Halloween Mini Bang 2020





	the cutest cowgirl around

**Author's Note:**

> hello hello!! I did not at all expect to write 5k of a Halloween party fic but here we are. Thanks muchly to my beta, confused-android on Tumblr, and to my artist, livintheholisticlife, also on Tumblr! The art is ADORABLE, check it out here: https://bit.ly/3kY3CAQ
> 
> notes: they drink a Lot of alcohol in this one. don't do it like they do, have a glass of water between drinks and I think you're supposed to limit it to a standard drink an hour? also, this is an au in which they never met Dirk, but Todd eventually fessed up about not having pararibulitis all the same.
> 
> okay, enjoy! :D

The cocktail shaker floats, which is nothing remarkable. Levitation is just about the first charm everyone learns. But when Amanda sets the shaker down after making herself a margarita, the cocktail shaker bobs back up into the air like an apple in an apple-bobbing tub. It’s pretty tricky to make a charm stick to an object after someone else touches it!

Amanda holds up her margarita in a toast to the party-decorating efforts of the hosts. The table's swathed in blood-red velvet to contrast against the cobwebby black fabric swooping from the ceiling beams. Glass punch bowls nestle inside pumpkins with toothy grins. Black candles drip wax onto the bottles below: infused vodkas, spiced rums and meads, whiskeys in ancient glass bottles, stacks and stacks of cardboard beer boxes. They hadn't skimped on mixers, either: Amanda would need all her fingers and toes to count the bottles of fruit juices and sodas. Green herbs droop out of bowls carved from what Amanda can only assume isn’t real bone. Glass stirring sticks and stainless steel shaker bottles float in the air above the table.

Amanda steps away from the table to sample her cocktail. Drinking is tricky with her plastic vampire teeth in, so she can only take small sips as she looks out at the party. She admires a pair in a full-on Frankenstein/Bride of Frankenstein couple costume, the Bride's yellowed lace dress dragging on the floor behind them. 

On the other end of the Halloween costume effort scale is Todd. Amanda looks at Todd’s half-assed Pugsley Addams costume over the rim of her glass -- she’s 90% sure he chose the costume because he already had a shirt with black and white stripes. It’s been a couple months since Todd confessed the truth about his “pararibulitis.” They’re still on the rocks a bit, but Amanda kind of misses him. It was her idea to go out together like they used to. She’d practically had to drag him into the center of the room to get drinks. She knows he just has to have a little liquid courage before he can really enjoy a party.

"The shitty beers are over there," Amanda tells Todd. She crushes the rest of her lime straight into her mouth, chasing it with a sprinkle of rock salt. Todd glares.

“Not my fault you have shitty taste,” Amanda says, raising one eyebrow at him.

Todd half-heartedly flips her off, which makes Amanda grin. He hadn’t flipped her off since before their fight. True to form, though, he makes a beeline for the other end of the long, long table, where six-packs of beer and cider form a pyramid almost to the ceiling above.

It's definitely a ritzy party, even including the cardboard boxes. Amanda knew someone who knew someone who could get them in. It's Amanda's first Halloween since getting her 'ribulitis under control, and she wants to go all out. She even got acrylic nails for the first time in her life: long, blood-red, coffin-shaped nails. They're not exactly stereotypical vampire fare, but look, Amanda just wants to go off the deep end a bit.

Now that she has her drink, though, she's not sure where to go. The only soul she knows at this party is Todd, and she doesn’t quite feel like playing nice with him yet. On her second scan of the room she sees a photo booth in the corner, fully stocked with Halloween props. Amanda's long black cape flutters behind her as she approaches it.

There's a full-length mirror outside the booth, framed in gold and blurred with age. Amanda checks herself out. Her cape, the borrowed suit, the puffy-sleeved blouse all look great, but her cravat is askew. It's really just a cream-colored cloth napkin folded up and pinned inside the neck of her blouse. She might have to unpin and repin it to make it work, but she can't do anything with her long fake nails. She sets her drink down on the edge of the prop table and fruitlessly fiddles with the folds, trying to make it look good.

"Want some help?"

Amanda looks up to see a cowgirl, a straw hat tilted back on her short pink hair.

"Uh, sure! Thanks!" she says, letting go of her cravat and turning to face the stranger.

The other woman hands Amanda her drink, something pink and frothy in a martini glass. Their fingers brush on the glass, leaving drops of condensation on Amanda’s skin. The long fringe on the cowgirl’s buckskin jacket sways back and forth as she reaches up to adjust the cravat.

"Pink’s your color, huh?" Amanda asks, catching a glimpse of the woman's pastel pink riding pants.

She laughs, her breath bubblegum-sweet. Her fingers dip into the neck of Amanda's blouse to repin the napkin. "My hair’s naturally pink. I've decided to embrace it."

“I didn't know that was a thing," Amanda said.

"Neither did the doctors, before my family rocked up." She brushes both hands over the cravat before stepping back and flashing a smile. "There you go. Perfect."

Amanda takes a look in the mirror. "Thanks!"

"No problem! I'm Litzibitz." Litzibitz holds out a hand.

Amanda shakes it, a little puzzled. She can't remember the last time she shook hands with someone outside of a job interview.

Litzibitz has a lovely laugh. "I wanted my drink, but that works too."

"Oh! Right. Yeah." Amanda hands her back the drink.

"What's your handle?"

Amanda has the sudden inexplicable urge to give Litzibitz a different name, one with more magic in it than her plain-jane name. She casts about for some cool name and hits on the drinks table — 

"Absynthe. I'm Absynthe."

"Nice to meet you, Absynthe." Litzibitz cocks her head and smiles. "Like the drink?"

"Yeah."

"I wonder why absinthe is illegal. There’s some way more dangerous stuff that’s allowed here!”

“Same with kinder eggs! Who would make chocolate eggs illegal?"

"Kinder eggs?" Litzibitz asks.

“Chocolate eggs with a toy in the middle. I fuckin’ loved them when I was little, but it was probably the toy. The chocolate’s kinda shitty.”

Litzibitz laughs. "Oooh, were you a criminal kid? Eating contraband chocolate?"

Amanda taps the side of her nose, like she sees people do in old British dramas, and leans in towards Litzibitz. "We got them in Canada," she whispers conspiratorially.

"Could you smuggle me one?" Litzibitz asks, leaning in too.

"Hey, Canada's only about two hours that way," Amanda says, pointing in a random direction. "You could go yourself."

"Road trip!" Litzibitz says, holding her drink up and taking a swig.

Amanda smiles as she retrieves her margarita from the table and takes a sip. "I miss road trips."

"Me too." Litzibitz sighs and adjusts the collar of her blue-checked shirt. "Though when I was a kid it was just me and my brother, so I guess it's more like I miss the _idea_ of road trips."

"Annoying brother, huh? I've got one of those, too."

Litzibitz chuckles and holds out her glass for a toast. "To brothers.”

They clink their glasses together and drink.

"Older or younger?" Litzibitz asks.

"Older."

"Same." Litzibitz plucks a puff of pink cotton candy from her glass and pops it into her mouth, licking her fingers. "I shouldn't complain. He's lovely, really."

”Mine isn't." Amanda’s laugh sticks in her throat like a corn chip. “But he’s a lot better now than he was.” At least, she thought so before he told her the truth. Amanda hoped he’d prove himself again.

“That’s something, at least!” Litzibitz says.

"Is that a real lasso?" Amanda asks, spying a coil of rope hanging from Litzibitz's left shoulder. She’s glad for the change in subject.

"Oh, yeah! My grandparents were farmers. I stole it out of their barn." Litzibitz sets her glass on the edge of the props table and brings the rope down off her shoulder, where it puddles onto the floor. She steps away from the table, making sure there’s enough room around her. No one else has found the photo booth yet.

“I can't really do tricks with it, but I can do this..." Litzibitz holds the loose end of the lasso and points to the other, making it spin a few inches above the floor. It almost looks as though she's spinning the lasso herself. She hops in and out of the lasso, like jump-roping sideways.

"That looks sick, dude!" Amanda says. "Can you do it above your head?"

"I can, but I’m no good," Litzibitz says. She hops out of the swirling lasso loop and flicks her wrist, sending the lasso up into the air above her head. It looks like a pizza crust being twirled by a chef, at least until she starts trying to make it look like she's the one doing the spinning. Sometimes it looks like she's spinning the lasso; other times, her hand lags behind the spinning lasso by a full half turn.

"I'm sure you could get it with some practice," Amanda says, trying not to laugh. 

"You can laugh at me!" Litzibitz exclaims, slowly spinning the lasso down around her body like a hula hoop. 

"Dude, I used to hula hoop all the time! Can I try?"

Litzibitz ducks down out of the lasso, holding the loose end up for Amanda to grab. Amanda prepares a levitation charm, ready to catch the loop when Litzibitz's charm breaks, but it doesn't. The lasso floats up to the ceiling under the power of the double charm. Both women point their fingers up at the lasso to break their charm, sending it crashing down.

"You charm it," Amanda laughs.

Litzibitz grins and points at the lasso again, sending it spinning in a lazy circle a few inches off the ground. Amanda steps into the loop and rotates her wrist to bring it up to her hips. Rotating her hips and her wrist at the same time takes some practice, like patting her head and rubbing her tummy simultaneously. 

Amanda hams it up, bobbing her head and shimmying her shoulders as she does a cowboy hula hoop. Amanda takes a sip of the margarita Litzibitz hands her, still rotating the lasso. 

By now a small crowd has gathered around them. Other partygoers clap and whoop. Amanda slowly bends forward into a bow as she sends the lasso down to circle round her knees. She jumps out of the hoop, sending icy tequila over the crowd, but someone's lightning-fast charm freezes the spill mid-air. 

"That was so cool!" Litzibitz applauds as she steps forward to retrieve her lasso. 

"Thanks!"

“Wanna come with me to get a refill?"

"Yeah, alright." 

They weave their way through the crowd as more party-goers stream in through the double doors, bringing a wave of chilly October air with them. The drink table is rowdier now, with people charming lemons and limes and sending them across the table to their friends. Amanda ducks to avoid a flying lemon before surveying the options, hands on hips. 

"What's your poison?" Litzibitz asks. 

Amanda plucks a glass bottle full of a honey-golden liquid from the table. "I'm gonna find out," she says, trying to grab the cork with her long acrylics.

Litzibitz holds out a hand and Amanda passes her the bottle. It just takes a second for Litzibitz to pop the cork and hand it back. Amanda takes a sniff of the liquid inside.

"Now, that's the shit," she says. Amanda knocks back what's left of her margarita. She sets the empty glass on the table and cleans it with a quick jab of her finger. "Some of this… oh, and some of this!" She adds a generous splash each of mango juice and orange juice. 

Amanda sends a bowl of sliced strawberries flying over to her with a flick of her finger. She pushes a couple slices onto the edge of her glass and tops her creation with a mint garnish.

“Look at you, you mixologist!” Litzibitz says, taking a long swig of her pink drink.

Amanda holds out her glass. Litzibitz clinks their glasses together. 

“I have no idea what I’m doing,” Amanda confesses, “but the more ingredients you put in, the fancier it looks.” She takes an experimental sip of her drink. 

“Apple juice,” she decides, flicking her finger at a glass bottle a few feet away, “and rum,” pointing at another bottle. They both come flying over to her. With a splash of each, her drink is complete.

Litzibitz finishes the last dregs of her pink drink and starts mixing up another one. A giant jar of pink liquor lifts off the table to fly over to her. It collides with another jar midair, sending colorful liquids flying everywhere as the jars shatter. 

“Oops!” Litzibitz calls, clapping both hands over her mouth. 

The jars reform with such force they must have had three or four charms put on them each. The alcohol comes flying up off the floor and zooms back into the bottles. Amanda’s 90% sure somebody would have put a cleaning charm on them, but either way, five-second rule, right?

“Thank you!” Litzibitz calls. She brings the jar over to her and pours it into her glass before adding a puff of cotton candy. 

"What's in yours?" Amanda asks.

"Um..." Litzibitz tilts her glass towards her, sending the pink liquid inside into a miniature whirlpool. "Bubblegum vodka, pink lemonade, and soda water."

"Bubblegum vodka?"

“Wanna try some?" Litzibitz holds out her glass. 

Amanda accepts it and takes a hesitant sip. She'd expected it to be sickly sweet, but the lemon comes through in a burst of tart flavour. It's delicious.

"I actually kinda dig that," Amanda says, handing it back.

"Surprised you like a girly drink?" Litzibitz sticks out her pink-stained tongue. 

“Little bit, yeah,” Amanda teases. "So what do we do?"

Litzibitz turns to survey the room. "I think there's a costume contest, _that_ looks like… donuts on a string? And there's a horror movie on!" She points to one corner of the room, where a black-and-white movie plays out on the wall above a handful of couches. 

"I could go for a donut," Amanda decides, and they walk over together. 

Partygoers try to snag the dangling donuts with their teeth, but it isn't easy: the donuts bob up and down, sway from side to side, or go into orbit around people's heads. A "ghost" points their finger up at the donut, but the charm goes wrong and sends a shower of red sparks down around them. 

"Cheater!" someone calls, and the ghost turns to leave, shaking their head under their long white sheet.

Amanda and Litzibitz take the ghost's place. "Boost me?" Amanda asks, once they've set their drinks to the side.

Litzibitz grins and crouches down, holding out her arms. Once Amanda's stepped into them, Litzibitz grabs her legs and lifts her into the air. Amanda misses the donut by an inch as it swings out of her way.

Underneath her, Litzibitz wobbles from side to side. "I don't think I can hold you up much longer!" she pants.

"Almost got it!" Amanda looks away from the donut, hoping to trick it, then whips her head around at the last second and lunges for it.

Litzibitz topples to the ground just as Amanda's hands close around the sugary treat, taking Amanda down with her. They land with a painful thud.

"Sorry, sorry!" Litzibitz gasps. 

"Are you alright?" Amanda asks, looking Litzibitz over. She looks winded but uninjured.

"I'm fine!" she squeaks. "Did you get the donut?"

Amanda looks down. Sugar crystals and raspberry jam ooze from between her clasped fingers. "Kind of?" Amanda laughs, holding up her hands so Litzibitz can see.

Litzibitz reaches over and plucks a chunk of donut from Amanda's hands. "Worth it," she says, popping it into her mouth.

They pick pieces of the donut off Amanda's hands. When all's said and done they're both covered in sticky-sweet raspberry jam. They go on a hunt for the bathroom, Amanda taking advantage of her red-stained hands to scare people.

"I have feasted from one person already today! Will you be my next meal?" she asks, extending her jammy hands towards a generic superhero. 

"Not today, creature of the night!" They reach into their pockets and bring out a handful of silver glitter, waving it threateningly in Amanda's direction. "Don't make me use my isotonic freeze crystals on you!"

"You can totally use the iso-whatever freeze crystals on me," Amanda says in an undertone. At a normal volume, she says, "Oh, no, not freeze crystals!" 

"Get away, evil creature!" The superhero cocks one arm and throws a puff of glitter over Amanda. Litzibitz gladly ducks into the silvery cloud. 

"Ahhhhhh," Amanda wails, melting to the ground like the Witch of the West. "My only weakness..." 

"Was this monster bothering you, my lady?" the superhero asks Litzibitz.

Litzibitz looks down at Amanda, still in the midst of her dramatic death throes. "Actually, she was my friend..." The superhero's face falls, but before they can say anything, Litzibitz adds, "...I'm a vampire too!" and cackles her best supervillain laugh.

"Oh no, I'm all out of crystals!" says the superhero. "Please don't feast upon me!" 

"I'll let you go… this time." Litzibitz winks at the superhero. "Don't tell my vampire boss, though."

"Scout's honor." The superhero holds up three fingers on their right hand before turning tail and vanishing into the crowd. 

Litzibitz helps pull Amanda up off the floor, transferring half the jam to her own hands.

“Thanks! I don't even want to know what this is," Amanda grimaces, poking a sticky stain on her cloak. 

"Me either." Litzibitz wrinkles her nose.

It takes more effort than they expected to wash the glittery jam off their hands.

"What is it they say about glitter — it's the herpes of the craft world?" Amanda says, using her acrylic nails to scrape gunk from between her fingers.

"It's so pretty, though!" Litzibitz says, holding her hands up to the light and admiring the sparkles. 

The bathroom makes them feel as though they've just stepped into an Instagram ad for some minimalist design company that uses too much concrete: big blocky sinks, long blocky countertop. The Halloween decorations help to soften it, though, with mini pumpkins stacked on either end of the countertop and plastic skeletons dangling from the walls.

"Cowgirl vampire, huh?" Amanda asks, drying her hands.

Litzibitz leans back against the countertop and tips her hat with one hand. "Yeehaw, me hearties — oh, no, that would be a cowgirl pirate." She tilts her head and taps her chin with one finger. "Yeehaw, I… love drinking blood?”

"Cowgirl pirate is also pretty good," Amanda says. "Or cowgirl pirate vampire. Is that too much?" She pulls a tube of lipstick out of her pocket and runs it over her lips, rubbing them together to even out the color. She’s starting to feel tipsy and revels in whatever nonsense she’s spouting — she can’t remember.

Litzibitz laughs. "Cape over a pirate outfit, lasso and cowboy hat and stuffed parrot? And fake teeth? It is a lot for one outfit." 

"Lipstick check?" Amanda bares her plastic teeth at Litzibitz, who leans forward and squints at Amanda's mouth.

"All good!"

They head back out into the party together. 

“So how do we feel about the photo booth?" Amanda asks.

"I love a good photo booth! But I want another drink first." 

Amanda mixes herself one of Litzibitz's pink drinks while Litzibitz branches out and tries a melon-based drink, bright green in a tall narrow glass. 

They circle back to the photo booth. Amanda weighs a heavy plastic skull in her hands before choosing a dagger spattered with fake blood. Litzibitz rummages through the props before choosing a long string of fake pearls and doubling it around her neck. They squish into the booth together, laughing as they try to fit both their hips onto the little wooden bench.

"Ready?" Litzibitz asks.

“Hell yeah!" Amanda slings one arm around Litzibitz's shoulders and throws up a peace sign with her other hand. They grin at the camera.

"Oh, wait!” Litzibitz points one finger into the air and sends out a stream of tiny golden lights that bob in the air around them.

_“Nice.”_

The flash goes off while they're trying to get back into place, which makes them fall apart in tipsy laughter. The flash goes off again before they can pull themselves together, smiling at the camera with arms wrapped around each other. Litzibitz pulls Amanda close, pressing their cheeks together. Her skin is soft and warm against Amanda's, rosy pink from the few drinks she's had. Amanda closes her eyes and grins into the camera. She's still warm from the pink drink she'd gulped before the photo booth, and her chest feels like it's full of the little golden lights Litzibitz conjured above them. 

Litzibitz keeps her arms around Amanda even after the little _click_ tells them their picture has been taken, and Amanda isn't about to complain. She nuzzles her nose into Litzibitz's cheek.

"That tickles," Litzibitz giggles, turning her face away. Amanda chases her face to keep rubbing her nose on her cheek, enjoying Litzibitz's laughter.

Litzibitz's hand closes around Amanda's wrist and tugs it away from Litzibitz, forcing Amanda to back off. "Gotcha!"

"Yall done yet?" someone asks from outside the booth. 

"Oops," Amanda whispers.

"Almost!" Litzibitz grins. "Come on, let's do another one." She hits the button with her right hand, still holding Amanda's wrist with her left hand. 

"Are you gonna let go of me before I die of old age?" 

"Nope!" Litzibitz transfers Amanda's wrist to her right hand and drapes her left arm over Amanda's shoulders. 

Amanda picks up the fake dagger and holds it to Litzibitz's throat just as the camera clicks. "Are you sure about that?" 

Litzibitz carefully tilts her chin so she can see the dagger without pressing her neck against it. She lowers her voice and says, "You know, there's something really sexy about a woman with a knife..." She looks up at Amanda from under her long, soft eyelashes. 

Amanda unconsciously lowers the dagger by a few inches. She's just opened her mouth to speak when Litzibitz tugs the dagger from her hand and holds it up to Amanda's neck. "Gotcha again!" 

"Unfair!" Amanda says, just as the camera takes the second picture.

“How?”

“You — uh, you —” Amanda twirls one hand in the air as she searches for words, turning nearly as pink as the drink she’d left sitting on top of the photo booth."You used your feminine wiles against me," she says dramatically, pressing her fingers to her chest.

Litzibitz tilts her head as a smile tugs at one corner of her mouth. "Is that so?" 

Neither of them notice the camera going off as it takes the final picture.

“You heard me.” 

"You're avoiding the question," Litzibitz sing-songs. 

"Are y'all _done?"_ calls the same voice as before. 

"Come on, we shouldn't keep the nice people waiting." Amanda stands up and makes shooing gestures at Litzibitz with both hands. 

Litzibitz shakes her head as she ducks under the velvet curtain and out to the party. "Nice people, my _foot."_

"Okay, are you from the ‘50s or what?" Amanda asks. It’s hard to get the photo strips out of their little slot with her long nails, let alone with her hand-eye coordination gone after three drinks. Litzibitz reaches down to grab them for her, their hands tangling together in the little slot. Amanda’s weirdly sad to pull her hands away.

The first strip of pictures shows them cuddling and laughing. The second shows the progression from Amanda holding the dagger to Litzibitz's throat, to Amanda looking shocked and annoyed as Litzibitz steals the dagger, to Amanda looking flustered as Litzibitz smiles. Amanda can't take her eyes off the picture of her with the dagger. There's such a sparkle in both their little black-and-white eyes...

Litzibitz hooks her chin over Amanda's shoulder to look at the photo strips. "Cuuute!" she exclaims. "That's one for the scrapbook."

"You scrapbook?" Amanda snorts.

"I may just collect stuff to scrapbook and then just keep them in a box forever without doing the actual scrapbooking," Litzibitz admits, unabashed. "But same diff.” She tucks two of the photo strips into the inner pocket of her buckskin jacket.

"Well, there goes my theory that you're somebody's grandma in disguise."

"Hey, that's rude," Litzibitz says, not sounding particularly bothered.

"Who says being a grandma is a bad thing?"

"You, from the sound of it." Litzibitz unloops the string of pearls from around her neck and drapes it over the props table, swapping it for her empty drink glass. She waves the plastic dagger in her other hand at Amanda. "I'm gonna miss this little guy!"

"You could just ‘forget’ to put it back." 

Litzibitz looks from Amanda to the dagger. "Steal it, you mean?" she asks, apparently unaware that her drunk whisper is so loud. 

"Yeah, why not?" Amanda asks. "Dude's rich as hell. He’s not gonna miss it." 

"It wouldn’t feel right," Litzibitz says, putting the dagger down amongst the other props. 

"Okay." Amanda picks up her own empty drink, enjoying the look of her long nails against the pink-stained glass. "Want another drink?" She's had, what, four drinks? The margarita, the fruity one, and the pink one — only three. She can totally have another. 

Litzibitz taps her fingers on the rim of her glass. "Yeah, alright." She turns to walk back across the party. Amanda casually runs her fingers over the piles of props before palming the dagger into her pocket.

Amanda sees Todd from across the room as she follows Litzibitz to get more drinks. She'd nearly forgotten she'd brought him to this party. She feels briefly guilty as she watches him talk to a guy in a pirate costume -- "getting talked at" is probably more accurate than "talks to," as she watches Todd try and fail to get a word in edgewise. Oh well, it's probably good for him. Amanda decides to check in on him later.

For now, Amanda catches up with Litzibitz and surveys the drinks table. 

"You should have some absinthe," Litzibitz says, waving a dark green bottle in Amanda's face.

Amanda catches the bottle and holds it far enough away from her face that she can actually read it. "Isn't this--"

"I know, I thought so too! But here it is!" 

Amanda shrugs and tips a measure of it into her glass. "I've never had absinthe before." She holds it up to her face and takes a cautious sniff, making a face at the strong herbaceous scent.

"That's funny.”

"Why?"

"'Cause of your name?"

It takes too long for the penny to drop. "Oh — uh, my name isn't actually Absynthe."

Litzibitz stops pouring a blue liquor into her glass, one eyebrow raised. "It isn't?"

"My name's actually Amanda. I just wanted a cooler name 'cause you have a fun one."

Litzibitz tilts her head to one side and smiles ruefully. "Fun is one word for it." She holds out one hand.

Amanda's first instinct is to shake her hand before she remembers how she'd made that mistake when they first met. She passes Litzibitz the bottle of absinthe.

"I meant to shake your hand." Litzibitz throws back her head and laughs. She sets the bottle on the table and holds her hand out again. "Nice to meet you, Amanda.”

“Charmed.” Amanda drapes her hand over Litzibitz’s and curtsies as though she’s being introduced in the Regency era, or whenever _Pride and Prejudice_ was set — it’s been a while since she’s seen the 2005 movie. (She’s not that into romance novels, but Keira Knightley was totally her bi awakening.)

Litzibitz laughs and curtsies, too, the fringe on her jacket swaying with her movement. She cups her other hand over Amanda’s, squeezing it gently between both of hers.

"It really was lovely to meet you, but I'm pretty sure I'm late to my brother-in-law's Halloween party and I owe him one. But maybe we can see each other again?" 

"Yeah, duh! Can I add you on Facebook?" 

Litzibitz lets go of Amanda's hand. "I actually don't have one. But I can give you my phone number!"

"Oh, cool, perf," Amanda says, trying to play off that she's suddenly flustered. Phone number seems so much more date-y than friending someone! She pulls her phone out of her pocket and remembers her fake nails. She can hit the power button, but putting in her passcode is gonna prove difficult.

Litzibitz laughs. "Or you can give me yours."

"That might work better." 

Litzibitz pulls out her phone and looks up expectantly at Amanda, who rattles off her number. She has to repeat it so Litzibitz can make sure it’s right.

"Awesome! So hopefully we can hang out again soon!" Litzibitz bobs up and down on the balls of her feet. "Do you do hugs?"

"Hell yeah." Amanda gladly matches Litzibitz's hug energy with a squeeze. She tucks the purloined plastic dagger into the open pocket of Litzibitz's pink Kånken knapsack. She'd meant to find a sharpie and write something on it, like a heart or her phone number, but this will have to do.

"Okay, maybe I'll see you soon?" Amanda says, pulling away. 

"Definitely!" Litzibitz grins. "Have another donut for me!" She waves as she walks backward through the crowd towards the door. 

Amanda waves back before pulling her phone out of her pocket. She smiles at the three emojis Litzibitz sent her: cocktail, dagger, and kissy face. Amanda unlocks her phone alright, but her nails make it hard to reply to Litzibitz's text. She sighs and slides her phone back into her pocket.

"Whatcha smiling at?" Todd asks, coming up beside Amanda. He knocks back a glass of golden liquid, drinking half of it in one go.

"Finally got away from that pirate dude?" Amanda asks.

Todd cranes his head to look over the crowd. "No. Well, yes, but we're getting coffee on Sunday."

Amanda smirks and punches Todd's shoulder. "Good for you! How'd that happen?"

"I...don't know. I think I blacked out for half that conversation." Todd shakes his head. "He's cute, though."

Amanda looks over at the pirate, gesturing wildly as he talks to a woman in a black tank top and bulletproof vest. The _Terminator_ lady, if Amanda had to guess. "Looks like he's gonna be a handful. Love that for you."

Todd nods and takes another gulp of his drink. His eyes narrow as he looks back at Amanda. "Wait. You didn't answer my question."

Amanda grins and raises both eyebrows. "I might have met someone too." She slings one arm around Todd's shoulders, tipsy-affectionate.

"You did?"

"Yep! And I'm not going to tell you one single thing about her."

"Her!" Todd exclaims. "Ah-ha, I know it's a woman, at least."

"Dammit." Amanda frowns. "Wait, no, you don't know. She could be non-binary!"

"Oh, yeah,” Todd says.

Amanda just shakes her head against Todd's shoulder. "C'mon, let's go home."

“We don’t live--”

“Let’s go hooome,” Amanda insists.

And they do.


End file.
